Royal pain

Aslan, an 11-year-old, 394-pound male lion at the Oklahoma City Zoo was seen by a dentist and zoo veterinarians to take care of what they initially thought was a bad tooth.

Zoo veterinarian, Dr. Sherri Huntress, said Alsan had a bad smell coming from his mouth and was drooling some which led them to suspect it might be something wrong with one of his back teeth. They were able to get a very brief look at him awake.

The team of vets made the lion comfortable and then went to work.  They discovered he had a 3-inch piece of bone stuck in the roof of his mouth.

While veterinarians had him comfortable they went ahead with a teeth cleaning to make sure that he would not be prone to further dental disease.